South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced its approval of the Activision Blizzard deal Tuesday morning, saying that it “unconditionally” approved of the $68.7 billion deal. In its statement, the KFTC deemed the impact of the deal would be relatively low in South Korea, due to the low popularity of Activision Blizzard games in the country.
“The combined market share of games developed and distributed by Microsoft and Blizzard is small, the popularity of Blizzard’s major games in Korea is not as high as overseas, and there are a number of popular game developers that competitors can deal with alternatively, so there is no possibility of foreclosure to exclude competing game service companies,” said the KFTC.
“Even in the event of a blockade, the effect of converting competitors’ consumers to its service subscribers is minimal due to the low popularity of Blizzard’s games, and competitors have a significant market share, so there is no risk of exclusion from competition.”
According to the KFTC, the commission met with “major overseas competition authorities” to discuss the deal before coming to their own conclusion. Following a “multifaceted analysis” on the potential impact of the deal on it’s domestic market, the KFTC concluded that this was an issue that would vary from country to country.
“…However, the different judgments on whether to approve this case are due to the significant differences in the competitive situation of the gaming market in each country and the fact that the competition authorities of each country focused on the impact on their domestic markets.” said the KFTC.
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal has been approved in 38 countries including China, the European Union, Ukraine, South Africa, Japan, Chile, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, and South Korea. Regardless, the Activision Blizzard deal continues facing opposition from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In opposition to the CMA’s ruling against the deal, Microsoft begins has recently begun its appeal process today. Its hearing will last in a two-week period from July 24 to July 31st.